2006-02-18 An interesting read

The Prince Of Midnight was the first that I found and I settled down to read it with great anticipation. I was surprised how different it was to Flowers – initially set in France with a strange man, S T Maitland, and his pet wolf. The heroine Leigh Strachan was throughout aloof, changeable, confused, and this was written well. She searches out Maitland to ask him to train her in his skills (he was a hugely successful highwayman known as the Prince of Midnight) so that she can have revenge on the man who started a cult in her home village and eventually caused the deaths of her family.

Unfortunately for Leigh, once she meets S T Maitland she soon discovers that he is a shell of his former self with problems of physical balance and deafness in one ear. She almost gives up immediately but falls sick with a fever and ends up stuck in his house with him tending her. Eventually they travel back to England with him still unsteady on his feet in order for him to help her with her revenge – for what it’s worth.

Laura Kinsale writes well when she describes human weaknesses and failings. We see into Maitland’s mind, his devastation at the loss of his skills in swordplay and riding because of his problem with balance; we also see into his heart as he trains a pony to do tricks in order to make her valuable and save her from the knackers.

On their return to England the sea crossing, whilst nearly killing Maitland, seems to clear his head and he suddenly becomes all Alpha Male and leaves Leigh on the South Coast, travelling up to her home village in the North of England to do his highwayman/revenge act. It was at this point that I felt the book slightly lost its way. Maitland’s character changed back to the confident highwayman who doesn’t need other people (although he insists he loves Leigh) and when she follows him (which was always going to happen) he spends a lot of time trying to protect her. But he seems to be able to travel in and out of the village surprisingly easily, he seems to be almost omnisicient about people in the village, and the story rather loses its way here.

The resolution of the story did not come where I expected – the revenge/denouement at the village; usually at this point the aloof heroine would have fallen into the arms of the hero who had rescued her and caused the death of the evil man. But no – he has to flee for his life, and won’t take her with him.

They finally meet again in London society and with the requisite confusions and misunderstandings, eventually everything is resolved. We are treated to a final scene in Italy where his Horse Whisperer skills are being used.

This book was certainly not run-of-the-mill, it had interesting locations and interesting people, but it didn’t live up to Flowers In The Storm for me and because I read it immediately afterwards, I was disappointed. Perhaps if I had read it first I would have enjoyed it more. Still, worth a read.